Canadian children face high risk of inflammatory bowel disease: study

Matthew Carroll, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Stollery Children's Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Alberta, speaks about his research that found that Canadian children face increased risk of irritable bowel disease during an interview in Edmonton on Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

EDMONTON - Children in Canada have one of the highest rates of inflammatory bowel disease compared to their global counterparts, says a University of Alberta researcher.

A national study looking at health records of patients under 16 years old found the rate of diagnosis for the disease is 9.7 per 100,000 children, said pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Matthew Carroll on Wednesday.

Carroll, Alberta lead on the study published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, explained that a decade of data suggests the rate of illness is rising. This is especially true for young children — between 1999 and 2010, there was a 7.2 per cent increase per year in children under five who were diagnosed.

“That’s the million-dollar question,” Carroll said. It could come down to exposure to certain infections and antibodies, the types of food children eat or environmental factors. “There are lots of potential things we’re looking at.”

He said early diagnosis helps patients lead healthier lives and can prevent long-term complications.

“(It’s) a complicated disease with a lot of contributing factors,” he said, explaining that it causes chronic inflammation and damage to the lining of the intestinal tract. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are both forms of inflammatory bowel disease. “Typically (symptoms) are chronic abdominal pain, but there may be diarrhea, blood in the stool, poor growth, unexplained iron deficiency.

“We do have very effective therapies.”

The study, which used health records from five provinces including Ontario and Quebec, found Alberta was about on par with the national rate, he said. Nova Scotia had the highest rates of childhood inflammatory bowel disease at 15.2 per 100,000 children, compared to Manitoba which had the lowest rate at 7.2 per 100,000.

“That range is still reasonably tight,” Carroll noted.

One quarter of people in Canada are diagnosed with the disease before age 18.

“As we’re seeing more in childhood, it means there will be more adults living with this in the years to come,” Carroll said.

He plans to study how various factors relate to the disease, including urban versus rural environments and access to health-care resources.

“There are some genetic susceptibilities,” he said, adding it has traditionally been considered a European Caucasian disease.

But it’s not just about genes — research suggests that immigrant populations to Canada are adopting the Canadian risk factor for the illness, he said.